AD Italia, the Italian edition of Architectural Digest, has turned 45, and it marked the birthday on 28 October with an exhibition-cum-party at the PAC, Milan’s Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea. Called AD45: Continuum, the show retraced four and a half decades of how Italians, and the wider design world, have thought about the home.
The magazine first appeared in May 1981. It was the idea of Ettore Mocchetti, who launched it as the very first international edition of the American title, which itself dates back to 1920. According to AD Italia, Mocchetti also came up with the short “AD” name and logo, which later spread to the other editions and even to the American original.
A show shaped by the building
Creative direction came from the architect and museum designer Luca Cipelletti, who worked with the magazine’s own team as co-curators. Rather than filling the PAC with heavy displays, he let Ignazio Gardella’s building do much of the talking. Gardella’s design was approved in 1948 and the pavilion opened in 1954; after it was destroyed by a Mafia bomb in 1993, Gardella himself rebuilt it to the original plan, reopening in 1996.
Its rooms became a timeline of the magazine: the playful, colourful postmodernism of the 1980s, the pared-back, technical look of the early 2000s, and today’s more fluid and sustainability-minded idea of home. Historic covers, photography and reportage were shown with video technology that reworked the old idea of microfilm, and each room had a raised walkway carrying landmark design pieces from its period. A “Memorabilia Wall” gathered images from the magazine and from the archives of Italian design companies, while the final room showed the process behind the magazine’s new graphic look, launched for the anniversary.
Who came to celebrate
Guests included the designer Patricia Urquiola, the gallerist Rossana Orlandi, Barnaba Fornasetti, the architect Fabio Novembre and fashion names Arthur Arbesser, Giorgio Guidotti and Sabato De Sarno. Asad Syrkett, AD Italia’s current Head of Editorial Content and the first non-Italian to lead the title, described the magazine as charting the course of home life rather than simply photographing it. The jeweller Buccellati was among the exhibition’s partners, and Marchesi provided the birthday cake.
For anyone who loves the idea that a beautiful home and a beautiful outfit come from the same eye, it is a good moment to look at pieces with lasting design: a sculptural pendant necklace, a deep-red ruby ring worthy of a velvet armchair, or a structured shoulder bag or briefcase for a gallery evening. Browse the full jewellery collection for more.
Sources: Vanity Fair Italia (Redazione Lifestyle, 31 October 2026); AD Italia (ad-italia.it, October 2026); PAC Milano official history (pacmilano.it); Atlante dell’architettura contemporanea, Italian Ministry of Culture.
